ESPN: 100 Most Famous Athletes on The Planet

mastermind

Rest In Power Kobe
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Bruh, you're forgetting Basketballs popularity in China, the most populated country on earth.


Federer damn sure isn't more known than KD when you factor Asia into the equation -

CnZ5KXBWEAAhAC4.jpg:small

CnaNetNWcAErFUU.jpg:medium



NBA dudes doing the tours of China look like conquering heroes the crowds they get.
i know you like to post these pictures, but Federer is at least as popular in China as Durant.

Federer competes every year in the Shanghai Open and has a marketing deal with Mercedes Benz China.

Federer has advantage with Chinese fans - AFRICA - Chinadaily.com.cn

He is at the very least as big, and I wouldnt be surprised if he is a bigger draw.

Roger Federer has for the best part of a decade been the most popular tennis player on the planet. He’s won the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite award for seven consecutive years and has 4.7 million Facebook followers, third most among all global sports stars, behind only footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

But in China, fans take their adoration of Federer to a whole new level. Like anywhere, the Swiss is besieged by fans seeking photos and autographs, but what makes any visit to the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai different is that Federer is routinely showered with gifts by tennis lovers.

“[Fans are] very creative here in this country giving gifts,” Federer said Thursday. “Obviously many think of my twin girls. Many think of Switzerland, maybe give me a cow or something like that. Others create great books about me and my career, places where they've been, pictures they've taken with me, souvenirs that I've signed for them, they've taken pictures of it. It's very nice.

"It's very different, to be honest. Not everywhere do I get such nice and creative gifts. I always need to pack in the extra suitcase to take all the gifts back. That's the only small problem, but it's a good problem to have, so I'm happy about it.”

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Federer was also asked about Lady Gaga, who, among other major hits, sings ‘Love Game.’ “It's got tennis connections,” Federer said of the song. “I wonder if she's a good tennis player. I have my doubts. She's created a great CD.”

While few would ever question Federer’s astuteness, particularly on the court, finding a connection between tennis and ‘Love Game’ is a stretch. Perhaps Roger is referring to these three lines:

Let’s play a love game, play a love game
Do you want love or you want fame?
Are you in the game? Doin’ the love game

But a deeper analysis of the song’s lyrics would suggest there’s more than tennis going on.

Earlier in the week Federer revealed that he had taken a Mandarin lesson with his team. “We're going slow. Little by little. It's not an easy language,” Federer said. “It's hard, but maybe I'll pick up a few sentences here and there.”

With more time on his hands than normal this week, Federer said that it was a good opportunity to add to his extensive language skills. Unfortunately, members of his team don’t share the same enthusiasm. “I have some time [this week],” Federer said. “My wife and kids are not here. I thought it would be fun. We did it together with the team. I like languages in general. I speak Swiss German, German, French and English fluently. I thought a bit Mandarin, which I'll never speak anyway, would just be a fun hour for me to learn some.

“It was a private lesson with the team who is here. They gave up after 10 minutes, and I was the guy who was saying the words and sentences. I was the guy who was really learning, not them.”
 

Miggs

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Bruh, you're forgetting Basketballs popularity in China, the most populated country on earth.


Federer damn sure isn't more known than KD when you factor Asia into the equation -

CnZ5KXBWEAAhAC4.jpg:small

CnaNetNWcAErFUU.jpg:medium



NBA dudes doing the tours of China look like conquering heroes the crowds they get.




Then you got india which has a billion people as well and zero NBA presence,how many people in india think know Durant ?
 

Malta

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Now who else wanna fukk with Hollywood Court?
i know you like to post these pictures, but Federer is at least as popular in China as Durant.

Federer competes every year in the Shanghai Open and has a marketing deal with Mercedes Benz China.

Federer has advantage with Chinese fans - AFRICA - Chinadaily.com.cn

He is at the very least as big, and I wouldnt be surprised if he is a bigger draw.


I know Federer is a global star, however basketball is the most popular sport in China, a 7 foot tall brother walking around China is going to stick out a little more than a 5'11 white dude.
 
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#TEAMSTRICKLAND
Soccer is BY FAR the most popular sport out there. Billions play and watch it.

LeBron, Kobe, any NBA player is well behind any soccer superstar and star. Even Antoine Greizmann is more popular than a guy like Russell Westbrook, KD, or Kyle Lowry or Isaiah Thomas or Al Holford.

No one cares about NFL outside of America and maybe Canada.

MLB is popular in USA/Canada, parts of Latin America, the Carribean and Korea/Japan.

nhl is only popular in cold nordic countries like Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia and Eastern Europe.
 

Miggs

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Cricket is the most popular sport there and none of the major sports have had a breakthrough there :wtf:

yes but they know who Roger Federer is....they dont know who Kevin Durant is.

I just called my internet provider and asked for customer service in bangalore and they confirmed Federer,Nadal are popular sports figures in India and had no clue who Kevin Durant was...
 

mastermind

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I know Federer is a global star, however basketball is the most popular sport in China, a 7 foot tall brother walking around China is going to stick out a little more than a 5'11 white dude.
thats not the question.

the question is who is the most popular.

Federer has been big in China for over a decade. He is at worst, a bigger star than Durant.

Does Durant even have Chinese endorsement deals?

edit: Forbes says that Federer earns the most money of ANY athlete in endorsements.

Federer Leads ATP Stars On Forbes List 2016 | ATP World Tour | Tennis

The Top 25 Highest-Paid Athletes Of 2016, Visualized
 

SwagKingKong

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troll job by espn

first of all messi is #1 not cristiano

and lebron is way too high

phil mickelson :deadmanny: more ppl know who zlatan ibrahimovic is
 

Montez

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Bruh, you're forgetting Basketballs popularity in China, the most populated country on earth.


Federer damn sure isn't more known than KD when you factor Asia into the equation -

CnZ5KXBWEAAhAC4.jpg:small

CnaNetNWcAErFUU.jpg:medium



NBA dudes doing the tours of China look like conquering heroes the crowds they get.
gucci3.png


Fam, Fed is a tennis icon who has been doing it for 15 years.

KD is top 15, maybe top 10 worldwide.
 

Malta

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Now who else wanna fukk with Hollywood Court?
thats not the question.

the question is who is the most popular.

Federer has been big in China for over a decade. He is at worst, a bigger star than Durant.

Does Durant even have Chinese endorsement deals?

edit: Forbes says that Federer earns the most money of ANY athlete in endorsements.

Federer Leads ATP Stars On Forbes List 2016 | ATP World Tour | Tennis

The Top 25 Highest-Paid Athletes Of 2016, Visualized


Breh, cornering the tennis market leads to wild endorsements because once you're the best there's very little competition.

I know Federer is popular, but Kevin Durant plays a sport that is the most popular in China. If Tennis were top 3 there then yeah he'd probably be more know there, but I doubt that's the case. Also, the Forbes list doesn't tell you popularity globally, there was a point where Derrick Rose wasn't even top 20, and he was by far the most popular NBA player in China.
 

Miggs

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Breh, cornering the tennis market leads to wild endorsements because once you're the best there's very little competition.

I know Federer is popular, but Kevin Durant plays a sport that is the most popular in China. If Tennis were top 3 there then yeah he'd probably be more know there, but I doubt that's the case. Also, the Forbes list doesn't tell you popularity globally, there was a point where Derrick Rose wasn't even top 20, and he was by far the most popular NBA player in China.


What are top 3 most popular sports in China ?

I would say Soccer,Tennis and basketball.
 

HDKG_

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Freebandz , OHIO
is this just active players? i find it extremely hard to believe KD is the 2nd most famous basketball player
 
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